Oliver Family Reunion – 58 Fish, Belton, 21 April

This past Thursday morning, 21 April, I fished with three generations of the Oliver clan, including the patriarch, “Pa” Oliver, three of his sons, Jeff, Jamie, and Joe, and one of Joe’s sons, Thomas.

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From left:  Jamie, Jeff, Thomas, Pa, and Joe Oliver with fists full of fish!!

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Joe Oliver managed to land the largest hybrid striper caught by any of my clients so far in this 2016 season.  That fish was a 6.50 pounder taken on live shad.

A line of storms impacted central Texas beginning around 5:30am with thunder, lightning, wind, and rain.  Our planned start time was 7:45am, and by that time the weather had very much settled down.  As we launched on time, we had a light NE breeze of 5-6mph and desirable grey cloud cover.

Shad were nowhere to be found as is often the case when the weather is turbulent, so I relied on bait I’d captured previously and had cared for since.

We experienced a strong bite by quality fish as long as the conditions that existed as we launched persisted.  Once the grey skies began to clear from west to east around 9:45am, the fishing became more sporadic.

We fished 3 areas over the 4 hour duration of our trip, finding and catching fish at all three.

We had an atypically high percentage of our total catch of 58 fish come in the form of “keeper” (18+ inch) hybrid striped bass.  Over half of our catch fit this description.  Since this bite began in late March, I’d been running roughly 15% of the catch consisting of such larger fish.

 

TALLY: 58 Fish, all caught and released

 

TODAY’S CONDITIONS/NOTES:

Start Time: 7:45a

End Time:  11:50a

Air Temp. @ Trip’s Start: 62F

Water Surface Temp:  69F

Wind Speed & Direction:  Winds were steady at NE6-8 until the grey skies and sprinkles left in the wake of the stormfront’s passage began to clear.  As it cleared, weather and winds became wildly varied with winds from every compass direction but north and at speeds from 8 to 16mph.

Sky Conditions:  100% cloud cover the entire trip, clearing to bright and sunny as we concluded.

Water Level: Rapidly rising thanks to recent heavy rainfall; 600.31 feet with 594.00 being full pool. No water is being released due to more severe flooding downstream (0cu. ft./sec.)

Other: GT= 25

 Wx Snapshot:

21APR16

 

AREAS FISHED WITH SUCCESS:

**Area 1743 – moderate action on whites, short hybrid, and keeper hybrid on live shad

**Area vic 738 – fast action on white bass in the 1, 2, and 3 year class by easing with slabs

**Area 1744 – last light bite by whites, short hybrid, and keeper hybrid on live shad

 

 

Bob Maindelle

Owner, Holding the Line Guide Service

254.368.7411 (call or text)

Website: www.HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

E-mail: Bob@HoldingTheLineGuideService.com

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